


The Stars In The Sky Watches Over You

by Gaahtoe



Category: Original Work
Genre: (im sorry), :D, Angst, Asexual Character, Asexuality, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Greek Mythology - Freeform, MerMay, Mermaids, Pirates, Short One Shot, Sirens, probably butchered the mythology, this is not how anything works
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-03
Updated: 2018-06-03
Packaged: 2019-05-17 18:11:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14836679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gaahtoe/pseuds/Gaahtoe
Summary: "Now Beckett may be a bad man, it comes with the profession, but having the whole crew of the ship he's on be entranced by sirens of all things is a bit too much in his opinion."





	The Stars In The Sky Watches Over You

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for a school assignment a while back. Missed mermay by a few days but its pride month at least so have a short story about an ace pirate and a mermaid!

“Do you know how the stars come to be?”

“No, I guess I’ve never really thought about it.”

“I’ll tell you then.”

 

\---

 

Now Beckett may be a bad man, it comes with the profession, but having the whole crew of the ship he's on be entranced by sirens of all things is a bit too much in his opinion.

He hadn’t even really known that sirens truly existed before he heard the beautifully haunting melody coming from the water and the first crew member jumped overboard. He didn’t have time to stop and wonder why he wasn’t affected by the song, instead, he ran as quickly as he could from one end of the ship to the other. He reached the helm in minutes with his lungs burning, but his blood felt like ice from hearing so many bodies hit the water.

At the helm, Beckett faltered for a second. He wasn’t even close to being the sailing master and had never steered a ship before. Another splash could be heard from the left side of the ship. He took a deep breath and gripped the wooden wheel tightly. He turned the ship away from the rocky coast and prayed that they had been going fast enough to get away from sirens’ island in time.

 

\---

 

Captain Alabaster rose from his seat and the people sat around the table quieted.

“A toast for the good men we lost,” he said morosely. The pirate’s lifted their glasses with downcast eyes. “And a sincere thank you to Beckett, whom without we wouldn’t be sitting here today.” Murmurs of agreement floated around the table as the captain sat down again. Beckett squirmed uncomfortably in his seat at the intense stares he was getting.

 

He hadn’t even done a particularly good job at saving them all. Neptune’s Revenge was currently getting repaired and wouldn’t be able to go out to sea again for a while. He was just a cabin boy who managed to get the ship back to a harbor in one piece through sheer dumb luck. But he couldn’t tell the others that, not when they looked at him with such gratitude and in some cases; suspicion. It was unheard of someone resisting a siren’s allure. No man had a clear head when they heard a siren’s song.

Except for Beckett.

 

It wasn’t that he didn’t think the song wasn’t beautiful; it was. The most beautiful song he’d ever heard, but he hadn’t felt the need to jump overboard to get to it like the others had described.

 

Beckett stood up and mumbled a half-hearted excuse before leaving the tavern. The sting of cold air did nothing to clear his muddled thoughts, but at least it was better than inside in the cramped, loud corner the remaining crew of Neptune’s Revenge had settled down in.

He walked briskly toward the harbor. Nobody would bother him at the ship for a while at least. Everyone else would happily drink themselves stupid until morning came, as a way to reassure them that they were alive or to mourn those who weren’t.

He hadn’t acquired the taste for drinking yet as the crew liked to tell him when he refused a drink. Beckett just thought ale tasted bad.

 

The night was young and there were only disgruntled workers loitering about the harbor. When Beckett reached the ship he took a moment to just look at it. It wasn’t a particularly big ship, just enough to house the crew before their last voyage, but it had always been magnificent in his eyes.

 

A splash in the water disrupted Beckett’s thoughts. Curious, he stepped closer to the edge and looked around the seemingly black water. A pale spot a little further away moved up and down in the waves. The spot moved slowly toward a more deserted part of the harbor, stopping from time to time as if to see if he was following. Let it be known Beckett may not be the smartest person of the crew. He followed.

 

The pale spot got closer and closer to the docks and Beckett could just barely make out the shape of a person. His first thought was that it was someone in need of help so he promptly jumped into the water. The person in the water turned out to a young woman, he realized as he swam closer, a naked young woman.

 

While carefully keeping his eyes away from her body he grabbed her around the waist and swam towards the docks again. Except instead of feeling skin, he felt something very odd; scales.

 

He abruptly let go of the woman, memories of the sirens he’d caught glimpses of before flashed before his eyes. He opened his mouth to scream for help, but a webbed hand slapped over his mouth before he could make a sound and the shock made him silent. A siren.

 

“I am noot here to hurt yoo,” she said. A beat of silence.

“What?”

“I am noot heere to hurt YOO,” she repeated, more insistent this time like she was irritated that he wasn’t understanding.

“You’re… not here to hurt me?” His voice was muffled from her hand still pressing against his mouth.

“Yees!” It was strange to hear a supposedly graceful and seductive creature sound so… clumsy.

“What are you here for then?” he asked after batting her hand away.

“To taalck.” Beckett blinked in surprise. This whole encounter had been surprising, to say the least.

“Well… can we talk… on land?” he asked slowly. She nodded quickly before grabbing his waist and shooting off toward the harbor. The speed knocked the air right out of his lungs, but before he knew it they were at the docks again and the siren was lifting him up to put him on the edge.

“Taalck now. Why can yoo woork w-hile hearing song?” Beckett stopped to stare at the siren. He would like to know that as well and it didn’t bode well that even the sirens didn’t know what was wrong with him.

“I don’t know,” he answered finally after the siren started glaring at him impatiently. She released a frustrated sound and a series of angry clicking noises.

“Whoo are yoo?” she asked after fuming silently for a while.

“I’m, well, my name is Beckett,” he said, slightly taken aback by the question. “What’s, um, what’s your name?” He felt a bit silly, asking after a siren’s name of all things. The siren just started clicking at him again.

“Your name,” he asked again but got the same clicking back. “NAME,” he tried again for good measure.

“NAME. IS,” she said through gritted teeth before releasing the same series of clicking noises as before. Now he felt just downright stupid.

“Oh, well, I can’t really… pronounce that.” The siren huffed heatedly and they fell into an awkward silence.

“Amyris Claria,” she said suddenly. “Name.” Beckett smiled at her.

“Nice to meet ya, Amy.”

 

\---

 

They became fast friends, awkward first meeting, and slight language barrier aside. Amyris Claria, or Amy as Beckett called her, decided it was best to stay and study Beckett to try and figure out the mystery of the song not affecting him. Even when the ship was ready to set sail she swam after it, at a distance so the others wouldn’t notice her, and they talked whenever Beckett could get away from his duties as a cabin boy. His new favorite place was on the little boat fastened to the side of the ship for whenever they needed to row to land. It was the only place close enough to the water that Amy could reach.

 

Beckett retold the adventures he’d been through together with the crew, the raids they’d done on other ships, the places he’d seen, the people he’d met. He told her about the rest of the crew.

“Splinter’s the one who got me this job. He’s the sailing master which means he’s the one who really steers the ship. Then there’s Ellis, the cook, who took me under his wing. He’s the closest thing to a friend I’ve got here. Old Baster is the captain, his real name is Alabaster, but it’s really Blakely who keeps everyone in check here.”

 

Amy in return told Beckett the stories of her people. He was absolutely captivated by the legends of the sirens.

“Sirens had wings at first. We soared through the sky and our home was in Heaven together with the Gods. But the Gods were very jealous over our songs, they wanted to be the ones with the most beautiful melody in all of Heaven, so they clipped our wings and we fell into the ocean and drowned. Neptune, the God of the sea, took pity on us and gave us a tail. Now we believe that every time a siren dies, a new star is lit. It’s the fallen who’ve returned to live in Heaven again.”

 

\---

 

“Hey, Amy?”

“Yes?” Beckett smiled at her. Her pronunciation had gotten a lot better since when they first met.

“Sirens are all about seducing their prey and all that, right?”

“Men are easily fooled when they see a pretty woman.”

“See, I’ve never really understood that.” Amy looked confused and Beckett gestured helplessly with his hands in search for words. “It’s like, I don’t have any real interest in, um, women and all that it entails.” Amy gave him a blank look.

“You mean mating?”

“Yes, let’s go with that. Mating. I think you look very pretty, but I don’t want to, mate, with you.” Beckett’s face was burning in embarrassment but he needed to tell her this no matter how uncomfortable it was. Amy narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

“You’re lying.”

“What? No! I’m completely serious!”

“That’s not possible. Sirens are irresistible,” she stated plainly, but there was a seed of doubt growing inside her. “You are unlike any other man I’ve met, though…”

“So, do you think that’s why I’m not affected by your song? Because I don’t care about, er, mating?” She hummed in thought.

“It’s a possibility…”

 

The two were interrupted by sudden shouts and heavy footsteps on deck.

“Duty calls, see you later Amy,” Beckett said with a lopsided grin before beginning to climb up on deck.

 

Amy slipped down into the water and swam away from the ship before breaking the surface to see what the commotion was about.

 

Beside Neptune’s Revenge was a significantly larger ship, this one without a pirate flag proudly flapping in the wind. An attack from another ship wasn’t anything unusual so Amy merely kept at a distance where she wouldn’t get noticed, but close enough that she could see some of the action.

 

People from the other ship were boarding The Revenge and she could now hear gunshots and the faint clang of metal on metal. A fight had obviously started and Amy couldn’t help but be a bit curious what was happening so she swam a bit closer.

Now she could even smell the gunpowder and blood staining the air. It was interesting watching the humans fight with their swords and guns. They moved with such grace while they dueled even with their impractical legs.

 

Amy searched the ship with her eyes to find where Beckett was. He loved the adrenaline rush that came from fighting for your life no matter how stupid it sounded to Amy. And lo and behold, there he was, locked in a sword fight with another man. The two were steadily moving further and further away from the rest of the group. Worry began to gnaw away in her chest and she swam closer, the risk of getting caught be damned.

 

Beckett was cornered up against the edge of the ship with no escape except for down. He jumped up on the ledge and raised his cutlass in a challenge. The other man paused before reaching into his jacket. A gunshot rang out in the sudden silence. A splash as a body hit the water.

 

She held him as he died and committed his last words to memory.

“I’m so happy to have you as a friend,” he whispered with that warm smile that lit up his eyes and then that light was just, gone.

 

She stared helplessly at his lifeless body when she realized exactly what she needed to do.

She did what she was born to do.

She poured all of her sorrow into her voice and she sang.

 

\---

 

A star glistened in the sky.


End file.
